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attacking behavior

n2vintage

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So now Tiki my green aracari is starting to attack anyone but me. im the only person in the house but when my bf comes over or friends she dives at them and clamps on..fluttering and attacking. She is alittle over a year old. Any thoughts? Age..diet..?
 

JLcribber

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Buttersquash

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Hi, I have a young Curl that is starting to exhibit odd behavior at some visitors and I'm doing trial and error to try to see what it might be. I'm also the only person in the house.

At first I chalked it off to just the usual onstart of mate behaviors. But then there are some interesting things that make me think twice:

1) he only 'attacks' certain people and not others. And male or female doesn't matter. I am female. One time when he was about 7 months old I had 3 visitors over (2 female, 1 male) and he became friendly with the male (who was soft spoken), but dive bombed the 2 women. BUT then I noticed they has both put red highlights in their hair. I have black hair (the guy had black hair too). So as an experiment I had the 2 women put on hats and my Curl left them alone the rest of the evening.

2) another time I had 2 ppl over (man and woman) and he absolutely downright dive bombed the guy. He had on a red jacket! So we had him take off the jacket but my Curl still went for him, even worse than before. The guy was a bit more outspoken/loud and partly bald (his bald head seemed to be a target!)

3) a female friend visited recently (my Curl has met and known her since he was very young), but to my surprise he started doing his fly-by behavior to her (swooping near her head). But I had a feeling it was not really aggression but more out the fact we were talking to each other and he was jealous at being 'ignored'. Also she has light brown/reddish hair which I think he finds unusual and wants to investigate. So, I had my friend put a hat on, then hold, cuddle and feed him and within just a few minutes he was as sweet to her as he was to me. And she was wearing a shirt with red designs on it.

I still have to experiment with different people (my poor guests lol) but just wanted to recount my experiences.

BTW these "attacks" consist of not much more than as if you were being attacked by an angry Blue Jay outdoors if you approached their nest. In reality the Aracari beak can't really rip or tear your flesh at all. So no one was really in any danger, its just all squawk, no bite. ;)
 

n2vintage

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My girl is still doing it. She pretty much has run of the house so when ppl visit she is out and attacks. .she can break skin..just today she knocked the glasses off a friend and grabbed onto skin. I can't seem to find any reasons. I too am the only person in the house besides my dogs..she has never attacked the dogs but she nips and skwaks at them.
 

Buttersquash

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Wow, it sounds like she means business... A female protecting her territory (and perhaps you). My Curl hasn't broken skin yet but I will be aware of that capability.

Have you tested:

How does she act with other people if she is NOT at your home?
How does she act to others when you are not present?
 

nvraptor

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I have the same problem with my curl crested. He is attacking anyone who visits! He is also just over a year old. He used to love everyone that visited, just a few months ago. Something suddenly changed, not sure what. It's fall, and he's only a just over a year old. Doesn't seem like the right age or season to be hormonal.

We did try having someone come over when we were not home, but he was still on the attack.

Anyone else experience this? Anyone with a curl who likes visitors? What are their conditions like. Our curl crested doesn't have a cage, he gets full run of the house when we are home and a room when we are not. Maybe it's related to this?
 

Buttersquash

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I think whoever they grow up with as nestlings/juveniles becomes part of the family group, and thereafter anyone else is an outsider. Aracaris are territorial in the wild. My Curl is 5 and still does this behavior. After trying many things, I simply respect that aspect about him and do not let him free-fly when I have guests over, and all is fine.
 

Monica

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I think whoever they grow up with as nestlings/juveniles becomes part of the family group, and thereafter anyone else is an outsider. Aracaris are territorial in the wild. My Curl is 5 and still does this behavior. After trying many things, I simply respect that aspect about him and do not let him free-fly when I have guests over, and all is fine.
With work through positive reinforcement training techniques and possibly changing how we interact with them, this behavior can be stopped.


I believe a lot of it is actually from lack of proper socialization, which is more in how they are raised. Not to say it's being done wrong... but there's studies out there that show that animals raised alone (dogs, horses, cats...) or those raised without older parental figures (elephants and even humans - more specifically, young men without a good father figure) tend to have more behavioral issues and outbursts than those raised the way they "should" be.

Everyone knows that, generally speaking, birds are flocking animals. They are raised in a flock setting. In captivity however, we raise them alone. Sure, they might have clutch mates, but they generally aren't around adult birds in a flock situation. We then remove them from their clutch mates and either keep them alone or in a multi-bird family, but again, it's not a natural flock situation.


Due to this, birds then develop unnatural behaviors, or behaviors that are overly expressed. It *can* be worked with and changed, it just requires knowing how to actually train the desired behaviors you want over the undesired ones.
 
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